Track the ongoing efforts of this legal NGO as we seek to assist communities to engage with legal frameworks to secure environmental and social justice.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Community Conservation Resilience Initiative, Ethiopia

“The assessment was a wake-up call, and each of us saw what
we had lost”, this was how Adam Haji-jarso, a community member from Dinsho-02 kebele (an administrative unit),in the Ethiopian Highlands described
how the results of the Community Conservation Resilience Assessment of which he
was a participant, highlighted community conservation issues within his own community.

Mr. Haji-jarso, was referring to the results of a
participatory mapping assessment facilitated by Tesfaye Tola, from the
Ethiopian NGO MELCA, which was conducted in 3 neighbouring kebeles in the Bale Mountains area, Ethiopia. This assessment aimed
to determine the status of Sacred Natural Sites (SNS) in the area. SNS are
biologically diverse natural cultural centres where local communities gather to
help one another, resolve conflicts, establish common law, and worship. Local
communities in the area have stewarded their natural resources through SNS for
generations.

The assessment revealed that historically there were 72 SNS
within the kebeles, however over the
last 50 years, 54 of these had been destroyed and only 18 currently remain. Through
participatory processes communities analysed threats to the sites, challenges
they currently face, and possible solutions. The assessment process facilitated
communities to develop preliminary recommendations, and these included local
issues such as creating a local network of SNS custodians, targeted financial and
technical support, and advocacy at all levels including with national
government.Each of these could help to
strengthen community conservation and resilience in the area.

Natural Justice’s Dr Cath Traynor assisted MELCA to produce
the preliminary findings of the assessment, and a flyer is available here.
The Ethiopian assessment of one of ten similar community assessments being
carried out globally, and the preliminary results were presented at the recent
Fostering Community Conservation Conference, earlier this month in Durban,
South Africa. Further details of this global initiative are available on Global
Forest Coalition’s webpages here.
The multi-stakeholder conference produced key
recommendations to policy makers which were disseminated at the 14th
World Forestry Congress, 7-11 September in Durban.

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Welcome to Natural Justice: Lawyers for Communities and the Environment

Natural Justice is an international NGO facilitating the legal empowerment of Indigenous peoples and local communities. Natural Justice takes its name from the legal principle that people should be involved in decisions that affect them. Accordingly, we assist communities to engage with legal frameworks to secure environmental and social justice. Join us as we explore the rapid changes happening across the world in the field of environmental law.